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RESOLUTION Annual Gathering of the Group of Women Parliamentarians (2012) “Citizen Security for Women, a Parliamentary Task“ Valparaiso, May 9-10, 2012 WHEREAS, the delegates representing all 4 regions of the Americas, namely North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, met at the 2012 Gathering of the Group of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas held in Valparaíso, Chile, on May 9-10, 2012; and WHEREAS, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the issue of Citizen Security for Women, which comprises the phenomenon of femicide, the trafficking in women and girls, and the global crisis of women’s human rights; and WHEREAS, men and women participants debated on the causes of human trafficking, gender violence, labour violence, systemic sexual violence against women, poverty, discriminatory policies and practices (on account of gender, ethnicity, HIV carrier status, migratory status, refugee status, displacement, pregnancy, disability, childhood or old age, unfavourable economic situation, armed conflict or deprivation of liberty, in addition to limited access to education); and WHEREAS, participants identified gender violence as an issue affecting girls and women alike, regardless of their age, ethnicity or social or economic level, thus requiring a multi-sectoral and transnational debate; and WHEREAS, some laws are currently in force that provide for the protection of women and girls in particular, which laws should be more effectively enforced, and new legislation should be passed in order to strengthen the legislative capacity of Member States; and WHEREAS there is a pressing need to standardize data collection criteria and research protocols in order to create national statistics; and WHEREAS, participants agreed that national budgets should reflect government priorities, NOW, THEREFORE, WE RECOMMEND 1. Reasserting the international conventions on women’s human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action endorsed by the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Belem do Pará Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and particularly, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. 2. Creating a system for sharing concrete positive experiences. It is essential to legislate in a participatory way and to involve the executive and legislative powers in order to approve budgets that are in line with the intended goals. Furthermore, effective ongoing oversight and assessment of public policies should be provided. 3. Promoting education and awareness-raising mechanisms through parliaments in order to prevent violence at an early age. This requires a clear definition of all the elements involved in human trafficking and femicide in order to support the detection, prevention, and prosecution of such crimes. 4. Raising awareness on human trafficking and its causes in order to comply with the legislation in force and promoting new laws to prevent human trafficking and prosecute traffickers, as well as to protect the rights of victims and of those who may be vulnerable to trafficking. 5. Exercising surveillance through parliaments to ensure that national budgets are more consistent in terms of the allocation of resources to the agencies in charge of preventing, identifying, and treating gender violence, labour exploitation, and human trafficking. 6. As far as Member States are concerned, redefining their economic models in order to consider excluded populations and those people who are more vulnerable to trafficking, taking into consideration the economic incentives involved in human trafficking. In redefining economy, greater attention should be paid to the demand for human trafficking and on those suspected of engaging in arm and drug trafficking, as well as on illegal trade practices. We wish to thank all men and women who participated at the 2012 Gathering of the Group of Women Parliamentarians for their valuable contribution to drafting this document; our special acknowledgment to the representatives of Trinidad and Tobago, Senator Lyndira Oudit, and of Dominican Republic, Deputy Lucía Alba, for their suggestions. July 2012
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